The Catalina 355 MK11 has been our favorite boat to charter in our clubs fleet.
Very comfortable for my Family. But, this boat is a slug for any speed.
I have had this boat in cooking wind. For me anyways. 15-25 kts and I never see more than 5.4 mph. Owner likes MPH over KNOTS, on both the chart plotter and gps. Do you think this is max hull speed for this boat? A couple months ago I was chartering a 34' 2011 Beneteau. Same wind and conditions. We ran her almost 8 knots. I love a fast tender boat. My Wife and kids hate it. Back to the Catalina. Im learning a lot chartering different boats. Im still not impressed with the Catalina's speed on the water. She is a very comfortable boat to sail though.

The Catalina 355 MK11 has been our favorite boat to charter in our clubs fleet.
Very comfortable for my Family. But, this boat is a slug for any speed.
I have had this boat in cooking wind. For me anyways. 15-25 kts and I never see more than 5.4 mph. Owner likes MPH over KNOTS, on both the chart plotter and gps. Do you think this is max hull speed for this boat? A couple months ago I was chartering a 34' 2011 Beneteau. Same wind and conditions. We ran her almost 8 knots. I love a fast tender boat. My Wife and kids hate it. Back to the Catalina. Im learning a lot chartering different boats. Im still not impressed with the Catalina's speed on the water. She is a very comfortable boat to sail though.

Boy.. I would expect there is something radically wrong here. Maybe you have 6 inches of growth on the bottom.

There is no way a 355 has a hull speed of 5.4 mph. I would expect the hull speed to be more along the lines of between 7 and 8 knots. Which would be reasonable for this boat. I know in a wind you describe, I can often times hit 10 knots with my 400, which is above its hull speed.

To get my 400 down to 6 knots, I have to create a bit of drag. I can easily hit 6 knots dragging a few toys.
Bryce

Very cool Bryce. Love your pic. I have the 355 chartered all this weekend. 16-18 MPH winds forecasted. Trust me. This is not a rip on Catalina thread. I will try and get more speed from her this weekend. She is a charter boat. Could the sails be that stretched? maybe. Bottom is clean Yes. Max speed in MPH was never over 5.4 MPH even with the wind almost over powering the boat. I could not believe it as well. Boat felt like it was dragging a chute. Going to sail with a video camera this weekend. Hoping to see some blue and gray whales.

Ok I stand corrected. I had the boat sailing close to 7.5kts in 17mph wind. Boat instruments were still showing 5.4 Mph but my friend used the gps on his cell phone and we were sailing much faster than 5.4mph. Another great weekend sailing in San Diego.

Is it a knotmeter showing "5.4" mph? or the boat's plotter/GPS? Clearly 6.5-7 knots hard on the wind is more like it in a decent breeze - one would certainly hope so.

Sounds like a calibration issue if it's a knotmeter... and if it's the GPS in any event it's not a very good indication of sailing speed unless you're in a zero current area. Looks like you have the full suite of plotter instruments, so if it's the KM you'll have the GPS data to compare...

Is it a knotmeter showing "5.4" mph? or the boat's plotter/GPS? Clearly 6.5-7 knots hard on the wind is more like it in a decent breeze - one would certainly hope so.

Sounds like a calibration issue if it's a knotmeter... and if it's the GPS in any event it's not a very good indication of sailing speed unless you're in a zero current area. Looks like you have the full suite of plotter instruments, so if it's the KM you'll have the GPS data to compare...

and f'chrissakes get the charter outfit to switch to knots!!

I no. The whole mph thing is kinda funny. They had removed the chart plotter since I last sailed Her. Im not sure what the instrument that remains is called, but it reads boat speed in mph, water temp and wind speed. Maybe there is a little paddle wheel that is hung up with some kelp. Anyways, sailing was a blast and the boat was moving.

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